Preston North End v Leeds United: Big match preview

Check out our at a glance guide to Leeds United’s final league game of the season against Preston North End.

Key Battle - Jermaine Beckford v Sol Bamba

Beckford has been injured for most of this season and considering their position in the league, Preston will ask what might have been had they had Beckford and his finishing throughout the campaign. He has started only three league games but scored in both of them and he still has a touch of the pace which brought him so many goals at Leeds. Sol Bamba will need to deal with that - and maintain Beckford’s outstanding record of making zero impact in appearances against United.

Key Man - Paul Gallagher

The midfielder won a supporters’ player-of-the-year award last weekend and he’s been one of North End’s most present and effective footballers. His five goals have been valuable and he’s weighed in with the same number of assists, contributing heavily in a side who are short of firepower up front. With one game to go, no Preston player has reached double figures.

Last time at Deepdale:

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Preston 1 Leeds United 2

Goals: Preston - Hume 63. Leeds - Kilkenny 29, Paynter 57.

Phil Hay’s view:

These games are notoriously difficult to call, with nothing to play for and the summer a matter of minutes away, but there is so little between these sides that a draw feels almost inevitable. Preston don’t score many goals and don’t concede many either and United are in much the same boat. The only incentive for Leeds is a top-half finish - but in respect of the club’s plans for the summer, the die has surely been cast already regardless of where the end up.